Ice on the Mind
by Ghostgirl221
Summary: Jamie started high school and hasn't talked to Jack in a few years. When he finally catches up with him, Jack can't remember Jamie or any of his human memories. Jamie has to figure out how to bring Jack's memories back before the end of winter or else Jack will be gone for another year, left in the dark about who he is. (Sorry if this is a bit vague, lost the original,HadToRewrite)
1. Intro

**Hey so this is my first story ever! The beginning's a little slow but don't worry, it'll pick up. **

**This is just the intro so it's a short, two paragraph thing to set the stage...**

**So that's it, and away we gooo!**

_Jack looked up at him with a sadness in his eye. "I'm sorry, who are you?" That was it, that was the final moment that caused Jamie to crack. Jack didn't remember him and it was his fault. In one turn, Jamie's long coat made a flourish as he ran away, tears streaming his face. Jack looked on in confused wonder as Jamie retreated into the distance, watching his black coat until it was just a dark smudge on the snowy, white horizon._

Jamie slammed his fist onto his bedroom wall, angry tears still streaking his cheeks. _How could this have happened? _ He shifted so that his back was to the wall and allowed himself to slide to the floor. It had only been a year or two since he'd seen Jack, how could this have happened? It was all his fault that Jack couldn't remember him, he knew it. He should have made more time to see Jack but he'd been so busy. Two years ago, Jamie started high school. Placing in the highest bracket of his class, the guidance counselors were all so eager to get him into as many high-level honors classes as he could manage. Always one for distractions, Jamie found his mind wandering for most of the first semester which wasn't a problem... until the midterms hit. The midterms for all of his classes took up the span of two weeks and prepping for them took over a month. Jamie was stuck inside for the beginning of the winter season and had to miss his favorite moment of the year; walking down to the lake on the first snowfall of winter. The exact same thing happened the next year, and what was terrible was that Jamie hardly noticed.

This year was different, though, Jamie had decided to ease up on his classes and focus more on figuring out what he might want to be when he grows up. He already had most of his credits so he didn't need the hard classes anymore. This year, he'd taken an art class and a photography class to fill in gaps of his schedule and the slower classes didn't have as stressful midterms as his other classes had had. Jamie was able to walk down to the lake on the first snowfall this year, but he'd noticed that something was awry when he saw that the lake wasn't thickened with ice. Ever since Jack was able to remember how he became Jack Frost, he'd kept the lake so heavily covered with ice every winter that not even one of the largest rocks near the lake could smash it, let alone a pair of skates. Looking down, Jamie had only seen a soft layer of frost that could have shattered under the slightest step. Then he saw him. Across the lake, Jamie saw Jack crouched in a tree, laughing as he made little flurries of snowflakes fall onto a little girl and her mother as they walked on the path below.


	2. The Encounter

**The first few chapters might be a little short but I'm working on it... I'll probably be spacing my updates out by at least 2 or 3 weeks at a time. Leave me reviews! I love reading them! Here's chapter one, enjoy!**

**Chapter 1: The Encounter **

Jamie edged around the frosted lake, his eyes never leaving Jack. Cautiously, he inched up to the tree Jack was sitting in and raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at his friend.

"Jack...?" he called up to him nervously. Something was wrong, he'd guessed it when he saw the lake but now he knew. Jack looked down at Jamie from his branch on the tree and when he realized how old Jamie was, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Y-you can see me?" Jack seemed about ready to fall out of the tree, so he jumped out and allowed the wind to carry him down.

"Of course I can, Jack, c'mon," Jamie said, rolling his eyes. _This has got to be another one of his pranks. He's pretending not to know me because of the last two years I've ditched with him,_ Jamie thought desperately. "Okay, Jack, I know you're mad, but at least talk to me!" Jamie took a step toward his friend, but Jack took a step back.

"Sorry, kid, think you've got the wrong person." Jack turned to walk away but Jamie lunged forward and grabbed his arm.

"Jack, stop!" He cried, holding Jack's arm tight in his grip. "This isn't funny, cut it out!"

"Look, kid," Jack said sympathetically, "I honestly don't know how you can see me, but that's cool, it means you've got strong beliefs in people like me, but I've never seen you before in my life. And that's a long time..."

"328," Jamie said, looking hopelessly into Jack's wintery blue eyes. "You're 328 years old, you had a sister, and you're the Guardian of Fun."

Jack looked at Jamie in slight confusion. "You're right, about one of those anyway; I _am_ 328, lucky shot. But I don't have a sister and I am definitely _not_ one of those hard-work-and-deadlines Guardians. Never would be." Jamie could feel the prick of frustrated tears at the corners of his eyes.

"But you are! I was there when you were officially made a Guardian!" Jamie shouted, trying to get Jack to believe in him and the truth he was telling as much as Jamie himself believed in Jack and the other Guardians.

Jack sighed tiredly, "It's great that you have such blind faith in the Guardians and me, it is, but how could you have been at my "initiation" - that _didn't happen_, by the way - if I've never seen you before?" Jack obviously didn't believe Jamie and he was slowly backing away, uncomfortably trying to ease his arm out of Jamie's tight grasp. Jamie had to say something! Anything. Something he knew Jack hadn't told anyone besides him and the Guardians.

"You are _Jack Frost_. You're 328 years old and woke up from a seemingly endless darkness in this very lake," he said, gesturing to the lake behind him. "You think that the Guardians are all 'hard work and deadlines' while you're 'snowballs and fun times.' Before Pitch Black attacked, all you knew about yourself was your name; Jack Frost. Moonlight was the first thing you saw when you awoke from the darkness and broke through the surface of the lake, and you know your name is Jack Frost because the moon told you so. You've always been drawn to Burgess like this is your home, and you don't know why, but you can't ice skate without cheating." As Jamie finished, he let go of Jack's arm. He'd said everything that he had to offer, every possible thing he could think of that would help Jack remember that he's a Guardian and that Jamie is truly the only human friend Jack shares his secrets with.

Jack looked up at him, pain and sorrow and confusion swirling behind the snowflake pattern in his blue eyes. He looked as if he so desperately wanted to believe everything this kid had told him but any bit of truth that might've just been said did not trigger anything in his memory. If anything, it seemed to hurt a bit to think of these things the brunette had just told him. Even so, everything about this kid was unfamiliar to him; he didn't recognize the mop of brown hair or the caramel-brown eyes that would look as warm as hot chocolate were they not about to shed icy tears. The child seemed to be willing him with his eyes to remember who he was, but it was impossible. "I'm sorry, who are you?"


	3. A Plan's Worth a Shot

**Hey! So glad to get the good reviews and I'll try to keep this story as active and ongoing as possible :) Still a bit of a lead-in but I hope y'all enjoy it! I shall be posting again in a few weeks, ta-ta!**

**Chapter 2: A Plan's Worth a Shot**

Jamie didn't know how far he ran or even where he was going until he reached his house. Not bothering to take off his coat, Jamie ran upstairs and slammed his door shut, closing himself off from the outside world. No matter how hard he tried, the tears wouldn't stop. At first, they were sad tears, sad because Jack didn't remember him, sad because he'd lost two years with Jack and may now lose forever instead. But soon, the tears turned angry. Jamie stormed around his room, kicking things out of his way until he paused and punched the wall out of pure frustration. The anger burned away and left only pain and guilt. Jamie slid to the floor and started thinking of ways to fix things.

Christmas was in a month, but Jamie's mom always brought down the mantle decorations first to "get everyone in the festive mood." Jamie knew it was a long shot, but he was slowly gaining hope in one possible plan he'd just thought up. After drying his eyes and removing his coat, Jamie walked downstairs, carefully eyeing the house to check if anyone was actually home. The only noise he could hear was the scratching of Abby's claws on the hardwood floor as she sulked around the kitchen which meant that Jamie was home alone. He walked to the living room and surveyed the changes; bunches of holly were covering nearly every surface, nutcrackers adorned the coffee table and accompanied each lamp.

Jamie's eyes rested on the row of snow globes that were strategically placed on the fireplace mantle. He had seen his mother sprinkling the fake snow he now saw over the top of every snow globe's glittering, round surface. Jamie was tall enough now to see almost every snow globe above the fireplace but right now, he was searching for one in particular. He traced his fingers across the top of every snow globe until he found it; one of the larger ones that had been almost awkwardly big in his hands when he first received it four years ago. It was warm to the touch as if someone had cupped it in their hands only moments ago. The image was of a small, familiar lake surrounded by woods. When Jamie touched the sphere, it glowed faintly with a golden light and a miniature Jack Frost flew in from the woods, spun a wide circle around the glass interior and waved at Jamie with his brilliant, white smile spreading across his pale face.

Jamie looked down at the globe with a sad smile and turned to walk back to his room. As he entered his room, he looked expectantly at his window, which was usually frosted with the cool spirals of ice Jack's presence leaves, but was disappointed to see not even a single fleck of snow on the glass. Looking in his closet, he found some warm, winter clothes, recognizing one as the pale blue sweatshirt he'd gotten five years ago when he was going through his dress-like-my-idols phase. He'd bought it to mimic Jack's sweatshirt and when Jack figured it out, he'd laughed happily and helped Jamie make his jacket more realistic. Jack used his magic to put frost spirals on Jamie's sweatshirt in the exact pattern that they naturally formed on his own. The magic allowed the frost to stay on the jacket for the first few months of winter which was something that left Jamie's friends, family, and teachers scratching their head as they watched this fragile-looking frost stay on Jamie's sweatshirt from November to January.

Jamie was pleased to see that the jacket still fit, but it was unsurprising seeing as he still hasn't grown out of his lanky, adolescent frame. Jamie slipped on his gloves, boots, hat and coat and walked to his door to lock it. Once it was locked, he turned, walking with determination as he went over his plan for the hundredth time in his head. He held the snow globe up to his lips and whispered his destination. The picture in the globe changed just before Jamie threw it to the ground where it shattered into millions of little pieces. In a flash, the glittering shards of glass and dust swooped into an orb that momentarily hovered in midair. Then the orb exploded, creating a portal of blurred colors that could unmistakably be recognized by the Guardians' protector. Before he could change his mind, Jamie took a step forward and was twirled into the glistening vortex.

**DUH DUH DUUUUUHHHH! Just envisioning Sophie when she tripped over Bunny and into the portal… lotsa colors, lotsa spinning ;P **

**Oooooh so where did Jamie go, you ask? Well we'll just have to wait and find out, now won't we? Hmm?**


	4. The Journey from Burgess

**Holy cow, my mind is so much faster than my pen! Sorry for the late update, I'll try to get the next one out as soon as possible :) **

**It's a looong chapter but here it is! **_**ONWARDS AOSHIMA!**_

**Chapter 3: The Journey from Burgess **

Jamie felt the sensation of being crushed and pulled at the same time and just before the feeling could become unbearable, his eyes were blinded by the white around him and the pain stopped. He couldn't see anything, it was freezing and his face felt as if it were being seared off by frozen shards of ice. _Oh duh,_ he thought. Jamie lifted his face from the snow and wiped the melted ice from his chilled face. When he looked up, he saw it; the North Pole. Even through the veil of ever-falling snow, Jamie could see North's castle about a half-mile from where he now stood. For a skilled user, the snow globes were on the nose about where they dropped off, but Jamie had never used one before.

He'd never used his snow globe from North until now and had otherwise only traveled by one once before. But he was glad to be so far away from the castle because it would give him a chance to organize his thoughts. He also couldn't help but picture Phil's expression had his snow globe dropped him off right in the middle of the workshop. He laughed at the thought as he pulled his gloves and hat tight and trudged on toward the castle.

The trek took a little longer than he'd expected, but twenty minutes later, Jamie approached the enormous, wood-carved doors of North's castle. Jamie had never seen the outside of the castle up close before because the only two times he'd been there before, he'd been brought by North via snow globe (the man had more expertise with the gadget than Jamie and brought them right inside the meeting room) and by Jack who had flown him through the open window of the meeting room (accidentally bumping Jamie's elbow on the window pane, making its name too literal for him.) But this time, he was able to appreciate the ornate carvings on the huge, wooden doors.

Jamie noticed that a new figure had been carved into the left door and he immediately recognized the person as Jack Frost. His thin frame was etched into the wood with his tall staff held firmly in his hand beside him. Jamie took a step back and looked both doors up and down; the other four Guardians were present on the doors as well, sporting their pre-battle stances. Jamie's eyes glossed over as they trailed back over Jack's image again. He wiped his eyes on his glove before knocking on the huge doors before him.

Jamie stood there, rubbing his hands together and warming them with his breath as an empty echo rang through the castle. Suddenly there was a click. A sound behind the door made Jamie strain his ears but before he could get close enough to place an ear to the door, it swung open and behind it stood a yeti. Jamie wiped his eyes again and looked up at it.

"Hi," Jamie said, eyes tearing up again from hurt and the icy wind lashing around him. He squared his shoulders and continued, "I need to speak with North, it's very important." The yeti lifted a bushy eyebrow at him but turned anyways and led Jamie in. This hallway was new to him; there had never been a reason to explore the entrance of the castle because in his past visits, he'd been brought straight to the meeting room to be used as a representative of the children of the world.

Jamie followed him for a while in silence and eventually he recognized some halls that he and Jack had explored years ago. One was draped with velveteen curtains of violet and red, ornaments were strung up in spirals around the body of each bunch of fabric. Another was a corridor known as the Hall of the Guardians; each section of wall was decorated with relics and paintings of each guardian, representing wonder, memories, dreams, hope, and fun. As he remembered, only a small section of the extremely long hallway was decorated. North had explained that it was to be decorated as new guardians were selected. Jack, being the newest of the guardians, was represented at the last square of covered wall with crisp, blue and white frost designs creating the backdrop of a painting of his staff and a pyramid of snowballs.

The yeti grunted at Jamie and gave him a nudge. Jamie shook his head quickly, realizing that he'd stopped at the opening of the hall and had been staring, unseeingly at Jack's area of the wall. He fought back tears that had begun to burn the back of his eyes and he continued on down the long, echoing corridor with renewed urgency. For a few more minutes, all Jamie could hear were their footfalls and the occasional scuffle of a lost elf running from one hall to the next. Even inside of the castle, everything managed to look bright and cheerful despite the lack of windows in the heavy-set stone walls and the couple of decorative swords adorning the walls every so often.

Jamie's ears perked as he thought he heard a faint jingle ring though the hall, too low to be that of an elf's hat. He kept walking but as the end of the corridor came near, the single bell sound turned into many and then there were sounds of clanking and sawing with the undercurrent of yet-speak. Jamie's heartbeat quickened as his excitement mounted. The yeti who was guiding him turned around to make sure Jamie was still following him and then walked to the massive doors ahead of them. With a forceful shove, the double doors opened and bright, colorful lights flooded the corridor past Jamie and the yeti and down into the depths behind them. Jamie's eyes widened as he took in the scene before him.

**Reviews? **

**P.s. Thanks Fantasydreamer224 for the booster chair ;) and for those reading this without the reference from her, she's a fantastic writer that you should check out sometime! Again, thanks! :D  
**


	5. A Meeting with North

**It's been a while, I know. Thank you for bearing with me! **

**Here's another long one… **_**chapter 4 full steam ahead**_**!**

**Chapter 4: A Meeting with North**

Yetis were all on post painting, carving, and sawing new toys and trinkets for children around the world. Jamie's eyes were lit up by the complete wonder flying like sparks through the air. Despite the worry he could feel in the corners of his mind, a grin broke across his face and he couldn't help but let out a small, awed laugh. Yetis were sitting at their workstations that seemed miniature in comparison to their own size. They used tiny paintbrushes and hammers, their eyes open wide to make sure that the detail on each was perfect. Jamie's guide urged him on past the workstations stacked with toy fire trucks, small robots, ornately decorated rocking horses and dolls, all of so many different colors that Jamie's eyes began to swim.

He'd never been to the North Pole so close to Christmas time. The holiday was fast approaching and would be upon them in one month. The crack-down pressure could be felt in the air even with all the multicolored kites and streamers magically flying through it.

Jamie was led through twists and turns around the workbenches until he could just make out North's private workshop. The yeti ushered him up to the door and caught himself before he barged into the study. North always reprimanded him about that. With a sheepish look on his face, the yeti knocked three times on the door. A loud voice boomed from within.

"Come in!" The yeti opened the door and took a step back as Jamie peered past him into the room, seeing North swivel his chair around to face him. "Oh, Jamie, good! The yetis told me you were here!" He said in his thick, Russian accent as he placed his large, tattooed arms on his knees and looked up. "Why have you come? To sneak peek before Christmas time, no?" His eyes were alight with happiness as he spoke and it made Jamie feel like a little kid again, one who didn't have to worry so deeply for others because they worried about him as well, but he looked away and remembered why he was really there.

"North, I have to talk to you about Jack." North's features immediately fell as he realized that Jamie truly hadn't stopped for a simple, friendly visit.

"You have seen him, then?" North said, his eyes drifting back over to Jamie. Jamie felt taken aback.

"Jack hasn't visited?" He asked, his brown eyes widening with his surprise. "Not even for the Guardian assemblies?" North shook his head and began absentmindedly carving a small figuring out of ice.

"Sandy has been close to Burgess to keep eye on Jack but he only sees him sometimes and when he does, Jack only spares a smile or nod before shooting off to some other continent. Jack has not spoken to anyone."

Jamie's eyes glossed over. "Not even once? He hasn't visited you _or_ Tooth?" His mind swirled as he began to process this new information. He wanted to leave, to be far away in a time when everything was alright, when all there was were good dreams and snowball fights. "I saw him earlier today, he… he acted like he didn't remember me. I thought it was a joke at first but… but he wouldn't give it up. This is the first time I've seen him in almost two _years_, North!"

"Jack has been… away for very long time too. Baby Tooth is not talking to Tooth and not even cookies cheer up the elves." As if to reiterate his point, two elves hustled into the room with a plate of cookies, perfectly shaped and untouched. Jamie felt his heart sink as he saw their expressions. Both elves were looking down, not making note of the cookies or even Jamie. "Thank you…" North said, but the elves had already scuttled away, their low bell tones ringing their sorrows through the halls.

"That bad?" Jamie asked, watching North eat half of a cookie before setting it down with a troubled expression.

"You say he does not remember you?"

"Yeah; me, defeating Pitch, becoming a Guardian… I guess the only thing different is that now a few people see him, but I don't even know if he thinks that's real. He seemed to be in a bit of a daze, like he was trying to remember something but couldn't. I don't even think he knows about his sister or his center anymore; the lake wasn't frozen solid, just frosted." Jamie's brow creased as he recounted everything that had happened from the last time he saw the old Jack to his first encounter with this new, confused one. North listened attentively to Jamie's story about how busy he's been for the past couple of years and his expression saddened as Jamie's eyes started looking redder and more ready to let loose the tears he could sense being dammed up in them. Then, once Jamie was finished, they both sat in silence. They stared elsewhere into the times when all was well and they could find reasonable answers to problems. They sat there, swimming in their own memories until a yeti knocked on the door, grunting something unintelligible. North's eyes focused harshly as he was brought out of his revere and he gave Jamie one last sad look before getting up to answer the yeti's inquiry.

Jamie sat back in his much-too-large chair and thought. He thought of the look of surprise on Jack's face when he saw him by the lake, the momentary look of alarm before he covered it with his cool-guy façade. He thought of the hundreds of chances he had of catching up with Jack over the past few years, the nine snow days of his freshman year, the extra centimeters of frost over the snow on his block making it perfect sledding density for the other kids of his neighborhood. All those opportunities lost because he couldn't have spared one extra moment of his time to check up on an old friend, one that was apparently trying desperately to get him to relax and have fun. But he hadn't found the time to have fun because he hadn't looked for it. Instead he'd locked himself in his room and studied over books and notes while Sophie and the other kids had snowball fights and skated on the lake. Jack's lake. He could feel the dam breaking as he closed his eyes. Tears ran small tracks down his burning cheeks, never allowing the prickling sensation at the back of his eyes to stop. He slumped back in his chair further and curled up into a ball, his knees close. He fell asleep just like this, his head rested on the armrest and his eared listening to the soft, distant tones of North's conversation with the yeti.


	6. Tooth's Palace

Chapter 5: Tooth's Palace

Jack trudged along the side of the street, thinking about what had happened earlier. _What _had_ happened earlier?_ He thought, grazing his staff against the tops of cars and street signs. A brunet had played a prank on him, that's what. _ But… how could he have even seen me if what he'd said wasn't true—_there it was again! That dull pain that made him turn away from his thoughts without realizing. _No,_ he thought, mentally pushing that barrier back further to allow some of what was behind the wall to come through, _what is it…?_ A flash of a smile crossed his mind, a small laugh, that of a child, echoed along with the image and then it was gone. Jack staggered back, bracing himself on a nearby water fountain, the dull aching evolving into a new, throbbing pain. _I don't… What was that?!_ He waited a moment and the pain subsided. Jack whipped his head to face the moon, eyes wide and teetering on showing an emotion he didn't like, one that no one liked; fear.

Jamie woke to North shaking his shoulders from beside the chair Jamie was curled up in. North's eyes looked empathetic as though he were apologizing for waking him, but he began talking anyways.

"The yetis are calling Tooth as we speak, but I wanted to make sure you were awake before she visited." North said with a small grin. Jamie had voiced his whole opinion about how North's slogan was "he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake," when he was about ten years old and now North made sure that whenever a visitor was coming over, he would inform Jamie first before letting them enter, whether he was asleep or not. "She has not heard from Jack in long while either, I haven't told her the news yet, but I thought that it would be easier to explain if you told her from first hand." It made sense, Jamie would tell Tooth what had happened, she'd go spruce up Jack's baby teeth and everything would be fine. Then, the yeti came in. With a distressed expression, he explained something to North and Jamie watched North's brow crease as he listened to what was happening.

"Yeti says Tooth is not in Tooth Palace. The baby teeth are there but without Tooth, we do not know what they are saying…" North held his hand to his forehead for a moment and then extended it to the yeti. The yeti patted down his tied workbelt until he withdrew from it a glistening sphere that Jamie recognized as a transport snow globe. "Come on, Jamie, we will have to see to this ourselves." North pulled Jamie up from the chair he was sitting in, whispered _Tooth Palace_ into the globe, and shattered it on the ground. Just as before, a portal opened up, this time revealing a much more colorful image on the other side. Pulling Jamie along by the arm, North ran through the portal with one sword drawn.

The sensation hit again. Jack remembered the laugh and the smile but couldn't see the child's face. He was doubled over on the sidewalk, clutching his head as even that memory was slowly being taken from him. All around him, snow began to fall and, in response to that, kids were gleefully jumping around and beginning to construct mini forts, but Jack couldn't focus on anything but the pain. He saw that same smile over and over again, heard that same laugh. But in another moment, it was gone. Jack looked down at his hands in confusion, then at his knees, now soaking in the snow he'd let rain from the sky only seconds ago. _Why am I on the ground?_ Jack thought with a mix of annoyance and confusion. _Wasn't I just thinki—no… Oh well._ Jack stood up and brushed off his hands, taking to the sky to even out the snowfall that had just begun. It was getting late so maybe the kids would get a snow day tomorrow, Jack thought with a grin. He looked down the horizon and caught a glimpse of dreamsand as it swirled across the sky and into the windows that protected the children within from the evils of the outside world. Sandy saw Jack from a distance and tried to wave but Jack was already flying away, probably getting ready to give the kids of Burgess another good snow day.

North stepped through first, still dragging Jamie along gently. Once Jamie's feet were securely placed on the ground of the Tooth Palace, the portal closed and North let go of his grip on Jamie's arm. A swarm of baby teeth flew around excitedly pulling at Jamie's hair and chirping incomprehensible words. The fairies parted their cluster as North began walking down the platform they had landed on, with Jamie following close behind. He followed the twisting stairways up to the top, center of the Palace where he was met with only an echo apart from the beating of tiny wings coming from the baby teeth. There were towers of teeth capsules even in these high parts of the palace; they were stacked precariously on nearly every surface. The silence was broken while Jamie was still taking in the immense numbers of capsules by a louder beating of wings resounding around the palace. Both visitors turned to see Tooth flitting into her palace, rattling things off to the three baby teeth that were flying around her head.

"New York, Bronx, incisors, second trip! Pennsylvania, Burgess, molar—North!" Tooth nearly flew into him as she directed orders at her fairies. Her eyes were wide from that first scare and before she could calm down, they widened larger as she realized Jamie's presence. "Jamie! What're you doing here? I haven't seen you in a while!" She flew past North and gave Jamie a big hug. "I'd think you'd be with Jack, it _is_ the first day of winter, isn't it?" When she saw the look on Jamie's face, she stopped and looked at North. "Wait… you _have_ seen him, haven't you?" North filled her in and her face grew shocked as she heard of Jack's lack of memory for the Guardians and even Jamie. "Well just wait one second…" She didn't seem too sure as she flew down into the piles of tooth boxes below, but she tried her fruitless search anyways.

After about two minutes of searching from pile to pile, her wings beating fast as wind itself, she stopped. She flew back up to Jamie and North, her head hanging low and her feathers flattened down. Jamie had never seen her look so upset, he looked between the two Guardians but couldn't figure out what was wrong. After a minute of standing there in silence, Jamie finally had to ask.

"What is it? What were you looking for? Did it have to do with these… golden boxes?" he said as he picked up a random memory container perched on a nearby pile.

"Y-you mean you don't know?" Tooth's purple eyes were wide as she tried to figure out the easiest way of explaining to Jamie. "Well, these boxes," she began, carefully taking back the container from Jamie, "are filled with the teeth of children from all over the world and from all different times. Each tooth contains memories of childhood and the wonder, hopes, dreams, and fun that they experienced while living it. Whenever someone is feeling lost or down, we open their tooth box and allow their memories to flood back again when they've forgotten them. It's our way of keeping childhood alive in everyone."

"That's so cool!" Jamie said as he looked around at all of the glistening boxes, "There must be millions of them here!" Tooth nodded but then her face grew dark.

"There's a problem though, Jamie. Jack's… his are gone."


	7. Intruders

"What do you mean 'his are gone'? They can't be! This- this is the Tooth Palace; Jack said that this is the second safest place only beaten by the Warren. How can something just _vanish_ in a place like this?" Jamie started running his hands through his hair, shaking his head back and forth. "No, no… No no no."

"Jamie, you must calm down," North said, watching nervously as Jamie paced the floor of the platform. There was a terrible scratching sound as Jamie lost his footing and started to fall off the edge. "_JAMIE!_" North lunged forward and Tooth flew with rapid speed to catch his shoulders before he fell off the platform to the spires of cages below. When he was back settled down safely, Jamie's eyes were wide and glistening, his heart pounding and mind racing.

"That can't be it." He said, wobbling in a poor attempt to get up.

"W-what?" Tooth said, confused with what he meant.

"That can't be it, it _can't_. Jack's teeth aren't missing. There's no way. How could… who would—" His thoughts rested on one possibility, the _only_ possibility. Tooth and North didn't need to hear the name because they already understood. "_Pitch._"

"But that's _impossible_! Pitch couldn't have gotten in here, there is no way at _all_ that he could have gotten in here," Tooth fussed, "My fairies would have seen him, there are no shadows in my palace." North stood to the side, scanning the palace from his vantage point and she was correct; there were no shadows anywhere. Everywhere where there should have been a shadow, in corners and under the roofs of the cages, there was only light. It was as if Tooth's energy itself fueled the light of her palace.

"She is right," North said to Jamie, gesturing to the light all around them, "not one shadow in any place of palace. Pitch could not have gotten in by that transport… and I surely doubt that Pitch would walk right in past all these baby teeth to search for Jack's teeth." He crossed his arms and rubbed his beard in an attempt to keep a smile from his lips as he imagined Pitch sneaking in like a child worried of being found out in order to rummage through piles of contained teeth. Jamie didn't find it so amusing.

"Okay well if it wasn't _Pitch_, then who? It isn't like there are many other enemies on the Guardians' radar. I mean, who would want to pick a fight with people so powerful? Pitch had been at his prime when he chose to attack again and even then, it wasn't enough." Jamie looked down at his feet, embarrassed, as North and Tooth shared a knowing look; _it was because of Jamie that they had been able to defeat Pitch; he had been the One Light_. Jamie scuffed the toe of his shoe against the edge of the platform as he continued to think about people who would want Jack to forget who he is.

"There really is no one else," Tooth said, unstacking and restacking memory boxes mechanically, "I mean, sure, Cupid has his off days and sure, the Ground Hog fishes for too much attention, but none of those other magical beings would have any reason to be mad at us or even go so far as to steal Jack's teeth." Tooth finished restacking her third pile and whizzed around her palace to quickly check on her fairies.

"Tooth has point, Jamie," North said with a shrug, "There are no magical beings besides Pitch Black who dislike the Guardians enough to want to hurt Jack like this. It makes no sense," North scratched his beard again and started to wander away to the other side of the platform.

"Fine," Jamie threw his hands in the air, "fine so it wasn't Pitch and it wasn't Cupid or the _Ground Hog_," he said, his tone growing more impatient with each word, "Then _who?_ Like, don't you keep a list of visitors or something, Tooth? Someone must've seen _something_ going on at _some point_. This is crazy to think that Jack's teeth just magically up and left!" Jamie could feel his frustration mounting and he tried to calm himself by running his hands through his hair. "I just—this doesn't make any sense." He sat down on the floor with a small thump, defeated. North looked down at Jamie and back at Tooth who had finally rejoined them on the platform. Tooth hovered in the air a few feet away from Jamie, looking down until a start in her memory made her jolt up in a split second and gasp.

"We do!" She exclaimed, waving one of her fairies over to her side, "We do keep a record of visitors! I haven't had the need to visit there in years, but there are a few fairies interchanged each month that track people who come in and out of the palace." She asked the fairy for the registry of visitors from the past two years and the little creature nodded once and flew off to a high cage that hung close to the main entrance of the palace. "She should be back soon," Tooth said affirmatively. In less than five minutes, six fairies were on their way down from the registry cage with two leather-bound books that seemed much too heavy for the poor girls. They huffed the books all the way to where Jamie sat and then plunked them down right in front of his feet before flying off again.

"So this is it? Two leather-bound books of names?" Jamie peered at the books and scrunched up his nose as he realized something; "We're going to have to read _each name_?" Tooth spared him a sympathetic look before settling down in front of him and opening the first book.

"Well, we'll have to think back to the last day that we saw him as himself and then we can rule out any dates before then. Otherwise we'll have to read both books for any name that seems to stand out. Knowing the last day Jack was himself will help narrow down the timeframe and knowing the first day his _wasn't _himself will assist in the search as well. We can't assume that this was a change that occurred in a single day, we have to guess that there were days between our last time of seeing him as him and the first time we noticed something was wrong." Tooth's logic made sense once Jamie thought it over a bit more, and he started to think back to the last day he spoke to Jack, _his _Jack. Regretfully, the date he came up with was from two years ago, November 19th. Today was the 21st of October and Jamie had no encounters with Jack between that last night in November and the run-in earlier today. He felt guilt begin to settle in his stomach as he made that realization and so he chose to ask the two, present Guardians about their meetings before he was asked for his.

"Hm… It must have been the summer solstice of last year," North said, closing his eyes as if he could see the memory better that way, "yes, it must've been then, but I have not seen Jack since, only Sandy can tell us more." He looked to Tooth for affirmation and she nodded her head.

"Sandy should be able to leave post for an hour or so, I'll call some of my fairies to invite him." Tooth whizzed off to find her messenger fairies and returned in less than a minute. "There, three of my fairies are off to get Sandy, he should be able to tell us more about how Jack's been." When she saw the look on Jamie's face, her own expression softened with sympathy. "I know this must be hard for you Jamie, but we'll find out what happened." She laid a small, firm hand on his shoulder and faced North with a steely look; _they were going to find out what happened to Jack, they _had_ to_.

I'm really sorry that this update took so long, I've just been feeling stressed and wasn't able to finish this chapter as soon as I'd hoped (by a long shot.) My next updates will probably be longer waits as well, but I'm not giving up on this story.

For those leaving reviews, thanks :) it really means a lot to me when you leave comments and side-notes. Those are what keep me going, most of the time.

So again, sorry for the wait and thanks for bearing with me! I'll really try to update as soon as I can.


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